AIA Continental Europe Board Meeting Minutes

Amsterdam, 24 February 07

Attendees

Voting Board members

Non-Voting Chapter members

Content

  1. Welcome
  2. Treasurer report
  3. Secretary report
  4. Section reports
  5. Brussels conference
  6. Proposed conference
  7. Administration
  8. Nomination committee
  9. National convention
  10. Strategic plan
  11. AIA/UK
  12. New business

1. Welcome: President Karl Hartnack, AIA called the board meeting to order at 09.00.

2. Treasurer’s report: Treasurer Helen Giblin, AIA reported that the Chapter’s 2006 fiscal year ended with a positive balance. The chapter’s operating reserves have reached their planned levels. A motion was put forth to accept the treasurer’s report; it was seconded and passed with a unanimous vote.

3. Secretary’s report: Chapter Secretary Richard Anderson, AIA was unable to attend the meeting. The previously-distributed report was reviewed and discussed. After some discussion, and at the particular request of the section leaders, the Board asks the secretary to create section mailing lists to facilitate communication between section leaders and their respective members. Additional action should be taken to contact lapsed members, as some indication has been made that they either think they are still members or would like to be.

[Ed. note: Read the Secretary’s 20 February 2007 membership report. The web editor, a.k.a. the Secretary, also notes that the website report submitted for the meeting does not appear in the minutes. Nevertheless, it is available for review.]

4. Section reports by the following section leaders or representatives:

4.1. Ray Spano, AIA, (France): reported on bi-lingual France section event with Maison de l’Architecture, which was attended by approximately 100 people.

4.2. Karl Hartnack, AIA, for Dieter Waldschmidt, AIA, (Germany): There are currently 16 members, and new members should be encouraged. Karl believes more sponsors and membership should be encouraged at the section level.

4.3. Betrand de Sénépart, AIA, (Switzerland): Last year there was little activity in this section. The Basel event on 30 March 2007, needs support, as few members have registered. Betrand will send an e-mail message to all Swiss section members encouraging participation in the event and perhaps to bring a potential new member. Helen invites event-organizer Maureen Carlson Reinertsen, AIA, to discuss bank issues with Chapter Administrative Assistant Elizabeth Heudebourg.

4.4. Gerry Meagher, AIA, (Northern Europe): Reported on Amsterdam event, and indicated that the CES reporting is still to be done through Dominique Tomasov. He would be interested in having more clarity regarding the section leaders’ responsibilities to the chapter (“job description”).

4.5. Steven Miller, FAIA, (Southern Europe): (i) Indicates that the Southern Europe geographic area is too broad; from the Middle East, communication to Athens is about as far as reasonable. However, he does see great potential for expanding membership to American architects practicing in the Middle East and Kazakhstan. Modifications to the existing section distribution will require a change to the Chapter Bylaws, while expansion of the chapter territory will require a change to the chapter’s Charter. Steven Miller will list new countries with potential members for further board discussion. (ii) Steven also reported on the upcoming CityScape fair in October, which outdoes MIPIM for attendance. He will investigate opportunities for a stand (similar to Build-up Expo), but indicates that members will have to be recruited to man it.

4.6. Steve Scamihorn, AIA for Esteban Cruz, Associate AIA (Italy): Esteban had previously sent a written report on the Build Up Expo booth for the Chapter, which was seen as a very successful event; several potential members and one potential sponsor visited the stand, and there will be follow-up communications with these people. [Read the full Italy Section Report, with detailed notes on the Build Up Expo.]

4.7. Nòra Demeter, AIA (Eastern Europe): (i) Nora has taken over the section Director as Otto Dvorak is not well. She indicated that Graphisoft may be brought on as sponsor. (ii) Chapter member Gabriella in NY is interested in having an event in Bratislava and Nora will contact her regarding the event organisation. She cautions that it may not have enough interest to qualify as a chapter conference venue.

5. Proposed Brussels Conference, May 10-13, 2007: It was generally agreed that the timing is very tight for this mid-May conference. Karl will contact Charles Croigny, AIA directly to discuss the programme, and will also ask Sandra Zettersten, AIA to advise Charles with regards to sponsorship. The Board wished that the fees for early registration should be under €300 for members. Spouses may register for the same fee as members ¹. Preliminary comments on the programme, to reduce costs, include planning more meals on-your-own, moving the chapter meeting to Sunday morning and holding the Grand Place walking tour on Friday.

6. Proposed Athens conference, 2008: Steven Miller will discuss Athens Conference with Spyros Amourgis, AIA in order to determine if he is still committed to the event and to identify the best period (Spring or Autumn). The Board agrees that Spyros must attend Brussels conference and form a committee before being qualified to plan the conference. The Board also encourages Steven to meet with him face to face.

7. Administrative update from Elizabeth: The Administrative report, sent out a few days ago, was reviewed without significant comment. The Board discussed and resolved the need to increase the Administrative assistant’s retribution.

A motion was made to increase administrator’s compensation to €650 per month for an estimated involvement of 45-50 hrs./mo. The motion was seconded and passed.

8. Nominating Committee: Immediate Past President George Berg, AIA will form a nominating committee and will prepare nominations for the next board meeting. The positions to be filled are Vice-President, Secretary, Germany Section Director, Italy Section Director, Eastern Europe Section Director. Nòra has already agreed to stay on as Eastern Section Director, and Esteban may be interested in remaining Italy Section Director.

9. AIA National Convention, 2007, San Antonio: Karl will go and perhaps Steven Miller as well.

10. Strategic Plan: Steven Scamihorn will prepare a proposal for a Chapter strategic plan for discussion at or before the next Board meeting. Marie-Jeanne has volunteered to participate in the strategic planning process as membership representative. Steve will develop the strategic plan proposal in parallel with the proposed board manual. The most-appropriate form of publication will be further discussed with Richard Anderson, who has indicated that some of the proposed content is already located on the web site.

11. Consideration of AIA London/UK initiative for merger with AIACE. Karl Hartnack explained the AIA/UK request to merge with AIACE, as well as preliminary discussion held with former board members on the topic. The Board is interested in knowing who initiated such a proposal, and why. It was decided that Karl will respond to AIA/UK to ask these questions, explaining that upon receiving those answers, we will form a Steering committee to study and evaluate the proposal. It was agreed, in any case, to move ahead slowly, as future collaboration or a possible merger are not urgent issues for AIACE.

A motion was made to establish a steering committee on the UK initiative. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

12. New business: (i) Steven Miller says meeting was very productive, but notes that it lasted a full 4 hours, and strongly suggests that this need be brought to the attention of all conference planners, to ensure sufficient time for handling Chapter business. (ii) Gerry Meagher thanked Marie-Jeanne for her significant contribution to the development of the section event and to the organization of the board meeting.

Conclusion of meeting, 13.00. A motion was made to conclude the meeting; it was seconded and approved unanimously.

—respectfully submitted, Steve Scamihorn, AIA
 

¹ Ed. note: in conference registration form parlance, each attendee is allowed one “qualified guest” which might be a spouse. Return to text…

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